Forget the outs... Where are the ins???

All ones for the future but not achieving potential really!!So should we take the money. If we are not considering the offers, why are we trying to bring in a Champions League player from Celtic?

He will not be content with being on the bench. I know it's selling our potential but I would like some proven players instead of maybe or give him time. Contentious, I know

All this talk about Stones or any of the other players leaving is surely not even the most important thing on the agenda. What about getting in some much needed reinforcements? We have 5 players down with hamstring strains and we are short in at least 5 other positions regardless. If Billy Bullshitter doesn't come up with the goods soon, it won't be pretty.

We have what looks to be a decent crop of youngsters coming through, we need to let them develop and spend what little cash we have on quality players to fill in any gaps. Selling them off will NEVER enable us to catch up to the clubs with money as we'd be spending the money we get to effectively stand still.

Say we get £30m for Stones, how much would we have to spend to get a defender equally as good? Probably a large chunk of that £30m. Look at the RS for example, they sold Suarez for an obscene amount of money and spent it on 3 or 4 players who they thought would improve their team. It didn't exactly work out for them did it? Same when Man U sold Ronaldo, it most definitely left them weaker despite them buying a few players with the cash.

Or is it as the managers says that we've a well balanced squad with just a couple of 'extra numbers' required?

Selling off our best players and bringing in "has beens" or "never was" players.

What happened to the statement "I will get you CL" or did he really mean Championship and Bill chose to change the words as he does.

Although we see a lot of promising kids they are nowhere near ready for the pace and power of the Premiership.

I just wonder based on RM's record of buying to date whether Bill and cronies are hanging him out to dry.

Top and bottom of it is I have never been happy with Kenwright and I couldn't believe we appointed Martinez.

EFC deserve better and the supporters deserve better.

Cash can surely not be the issue as, even if we haven't got the sky millions in our account now, the banks and other clubs know its coming so signing someone cannot be a cash matter. Most of the targets we've been linked with so far have been really underwhelming, to put it nicely. The window is open another month but it looks increasingly likely that we're not doing any new business before the KO. If either of Jags or Stones gets injured, we're really going to be in the shit when the tough games post Watford start.

We knew in JANUARY that we'd be releasing two senior CBs in the summer and it's now 10 days before the season start and we've not signed a CB and look like we may well be losing a 3rd. It's not easy getting a player but we've known for over half a year that we'd need at least 1 CB and I cannot believe we still haven't signed anyone. Added to that;

- We still don't have a decent back up for Coleman at RB
- We still don't have a LM, unless we finally play Oviedo there
- We still don't have the elusive No.10
- We don't have a decent second striker

All it takes is 2-3 injuries to first teamers and suddenly our side is barely better than the bottom sides. (Any of Coleman, Jags, Stones, Lukaku gets injured.....)

I honestly reckon that Stones and any other outgoings will happen just prior to the window closing, the money will then mysteriously dissapear into the ether and never be seen again.

Being outspent by the might of Stoke, Bournemouth et al is bad enough but I read somewhere that even Wolves have spent more than us.

I know you are relatively new to these pages, but there's articles passim bemoaning our pathetic net spend under this board. It's got fuck all to do with Bill losing faith - if he sacks him he still has to pay him off.

Those two positions need strengthening as a bare minimum.

Considering that we had a nett spend of circa 㿐m last year plus the ٢.5m the club has so far spent this season, I just cannot see how we are going to be spending big on incoming players for the rest of this window without losing one or two or our key players.

The TV revenues are significant but on the whole are used to pay the players wages. There will also be a shortfall of circa 㾷m of TV money this year which will in part be made up with the UEFA prize money but it will probably mean we have lower income from that source than last season.

So if the club want to prevent the nett debt from climbing back towards its previous level (㿙m) it will be unlikely to purchase high value players during this or the January transfer window unless it brings in revenue from the sale of current first-team players.

Not what we want to hear, but that's the way it always has been and there's no evidence to suggest anything different will occur this time around.

We need goals from MF and a backup for Lukaku.

A bit more fuckin urgency in the boardroom wouldn't go amiss.

I'm just amazed the Echo or the Post has dared to question them. The latest circulation figures must be dire.

The Echo will be gone before our Board I think.

Anyone wanna buy a bridge?

If a team is to do well in this league they have to be speedily proficient in springing from their own third into the opponents third and Everton's midfielders don't seem to have this.

Playing across the back to and for just to keep possession is of no value if it just allows the opponents time to regroup and limit space.

We all know that the season before last saw Everton's fullbacks become the best attackers but that was basically nullified last season.

Perhaps Deulofeu, Mirallas, Barkley and Cleverley may have something more to offer and results will be better?

Certainly we need more quick breaks and more goals as a result but somehow I cannot see the present personnel having the ability nor the present manager turning things around.

Another striker is urgently needed unless McAleny makes a big breakthrough ahead of Kone.

For the sake of our finances, we have usually done business late in the window. It sucks, but prices are better later because clubs have had a chance to evaluate where they stand with their own personnel.

Teams now have an idea of which players with expiring contracts they could re-sign, and those who wish to leave. Teams finalize their decisions on what positions and players they want; who they're willing to sell or loan out.

Sometimes it takes players until the end of the window to push for a move. Sometimes clubs panic near the deadline when they realize they have to sell a certain player to get the most money for themselves. Timing is one of the most important aspects of a transfer.

But do bear in mind; unlike some teams, we conduct our transfer business away from of the press, behind closed doors. Generally speaking, we don't usually hear about Everton signings until maybe a day before they occur.

Until then, it does get eerily quiet. So let's just keep breathing and be patient. If Cleverley and Deulofeu are our only completed business come September 2, then you have every right to unleash Hell!

Roberto said, before the window opened, that he expected/wanted, two very quick deals done and expected two more, late on. I'm sure, that if money was available, then Roberto would have who he wants in now. He has talked about wanting a midfield maestro and I think he'd have him by now if he could.

Two posters wrote about the debt situation at EFC (around 𧴦 million) and they both made the point that any relatively expensive player would only come in towards the end of the window... if at all!

I think we will do well to keep our best players and maybe strengthen with "the midfielder" he's after and possibly a decent defender.

Of course, if Stones is sold, then we might well get a couple of good players in. But why sell a player like Stones and replace him with an older, lesser talent.

So if we keep Stones, then I don't see us getting more players in until the end of the window.

I wonder if people would be happy if we were conducting our transfers like, say, West Ham. Throwing money at whichever half-decent player becomes available. Although there is more money in the Premier League, we are still a club who needs to pick moves carefully in the transfer market. I firmly believe that we will spend more in the window, substantially more. We just need to be patient and remember that so far we have retained a really strong spine of talented young players who now have considerable Premier League experience.

What happened to the statement "We need to come flying out of the blocks and start the season well". Do you realize we play most of the top clubs early on and, based on the Arsenal performance, they will tear us apart.

There is absolutely no excuse why EFC haven't done more to get reinforcements in. Even the Echo are beginning to question what is going on.

Still think BK doesn't trust him and that's why no signings.

We also lost out to West Ham on the creative midfielder they bought from Marseilles. That said, other than paper talk, we don't know how serious that interest was.

So, looking at the bigger picture, I fully expect us to sign the CB (either Dragovic and Van Dijk please) and a No 10 or striker. A striker would be more welcome out of the two from me. There's also the possibility that Lennon will be re-signed, but I believe the two or three deals will be done in typical Everton fashion and at the close of September the 8th.

I fear that we may lose a couple of our promising youngsters, with last minute replacements, devoid of quality, not to mention the replacements for Distin and Alcaraz. While not exactly regulars, we have also lost Chris Long and John Lundstram. Both of whom, I thought would step up as a matter of progression.

I am still not overly confident about having Tim and El Teflon, as our last line of defence either. While Robles has got slighly better with limited appearances, it can't be said likely of Tim, who I feel cost a lot of points, earlier on in the season.

I just hope and pray that, we will kick off the campaign, which has a testing few fixtures, in better shape than we are at present.

Rant over!

You are suggesting that RM should take every second available to make his mind up.

He knew the two centre-backs were leaving 6/7 months ago. He knew Lukaku was our only recognised striker 12 months ago.

You do know the season starts in 10 days?

First of all, I'm not advocating that we start the season under strength in any position and certainly not advocating we start 5 players short.

What I'm saying, is that our manager is likely to be restricted in his purchasing ability...no matter how many of our players get injured between now and the start of the season; or indeed after the window shuts.

Can we put any injuries aside for one moment and concentrate on the players that possibly might come in (excluding whether Stones is sold or not) it seemed to me that Roberto said at the beginning of the window. He said that he expected us to get two players in very quickly and then two players late in the window.

Having seen his comments about wanting a midfield maestro, I'll have a gues as that is the man if he can be found, that he will spend most of any money he's given. The one thing that might alter that, is he gets the man he wants on loan with a view to buy. Then a Center Half, I would guess is what his other target is.

I think he will have identified the players he wants and will have a list of each. Whether he'll get them will depend on what other clubs do and what cash we have. But nevertheless, I think, he'll get those two if he can. He might get other players on loan, we'll have to wait and see.

Your other point about the 5 injured players. Well I could be wrong here but are you saying we will have to replace the players that Roberto has caused to be injured by his fitness regime?

If you are then that's a slightly different point I would think. The club will make "ample funds available" according to our CEO, for Roberto to get players in. Now in my bitter and twisted mind that means BK will give some money from the TV; but not the lot, to our manager.

Am I advocating that we start the season "flying out the blocks" with five players with hamstring injuries, well no I'm not. But that isn't going to alter who we bring in.

As for the view that Roberto's fitness training methods are the primary cause of the injuries to our players. I could be wrong but I think that is bollocks but a separate point to the ins and out.

if you think 6 months to plan and search is rushing into things god help us all.

The club decided months ago not to renew Distin or Alcaraz contracts and we have had 2 years to find out that Kone is not up to standard.

We have known for a long time that Pienaar and Osman were getting on and no longer up for 90 minutes, let alone a whole season.

The fact that we are the lowest spending club and also have one of the smallest squads in the Premier League is the most telling situation but you go and bury your head in the sand and blindly follow Kenwright to oblivion.

This I imagine would be the response if Kenwright shat in Martin Mason's hat.

A logical conclusion on my part based is based on constant, disingenuous, apologist nonsense like 'There's a month left of the transfer window' (as Jay #17 rightly states - 'the season starts in just over a week').

Then there's the sleight-of-hand of 'and we're competing with maybe hundreds of similar clubs in Europe for the very few decent buys that are really available'

Hundreds of similar clubs?

Surely being the 20th richest club in the world Link means we're not similar to hundreds of other clubs in Europe (and if we have the 20th highest income, but can't compete with hundreds clubs below why can't we?)

As for filler bum-fluffery like 'The last thing that we should do is rush into buying players that don't improve the team just for the sake of buying', if the 'no shit Sherlock' award hasn't been presented yet...

I will eat my hat if we don't have 2-3 more players in the squad by end of deadline.

My frustration is that this is not a one-off window. This happens every year under Kenwright which is presumably why Moyes cashed his chips in.

We can no longer pretend to have no money while conveniently clocking up record debts and interest payments to the BVI.

The Premier League is awash with money and yet we are being outspent by the likes of West Ham, Stoke and even Bournemouth.

If we have any ambition to eat at the top table we need quality additions otherwise we might as well confirm our status as a "small" club.

Still you got me out of my depression....thanks.

Now the season is almost upon us and still there's no sign at all of anymore incoming signings but continued talk of players leaving.

I get the feeling with have identified targets based on our budget and there's another set of targets that have more of the 'wow' factor, that are dependent on us getting an offer we can't refuse for Stones or McCarthy.

This has echos of Martinez's first summer in charge when we had Man Utd circling around Baines and Fellaini. Business was done late and it turned out okay. I think we'll be pleasantly surprised come deadline on the 8th. Either that, or we'll just be grateful we've signed anyone...

I'm thinking the season we signed Stracqualursi and Drenthe when we'd sold our best player and it looked like there'd be no incomings. I really hope it's a deadline like the former rather than the latter scenario.

I 100% agree with you. If we leave views over Martinez aside, or any other manager we've had (or will have in the foreseeable), we'll have fuck all to spend in comparison to our (well, I was going to say our top six competitors but they're way ahead of us and going further ahead) mid-table competitors.

We get frustrated because we see how easy it is (or seems to be) for the Redshite and others buying who they want.

Well, I detest Kenwright (probably shouldn't because it brings bad Karma) but I do. Since we lost the Kings Dock opportunity, I think we consigned our route to greatness again, gone up in smoke.

The selfishness of the man pisses me right off. I see the efforts of Moyes and now Martinez and could enjoy arguments about the relative strengths of both. The type of football the espouse and their differing outlooks (knife to a gunfight v we can get into C/L without megabucks).

That'll keep us going throughout many a weekend over the coming season along with many other discussion topics.

But deep down, I look at the fucking great big stand I see from the bottom of our street getting higher and bloody higher and I despair.

So I don't blame Roberto for not getting players in yet (though the two he's got in I like the look of). I blame the fat fucker (sorry about being fattist) who treats the club as his own dream machine. We will not give our manager any cash until almost the last day of the window. That's my guess//fear.

So you're not alone, mate, but our manager is our manager and I'll back him until he shows me there's no point. This season, I think, we will be better than last... much better. I hope!!!

BK was irrelevant in the big picture of KD going ahead. That it didn't go ahead was not because of him.

Can you explain how ambition increases revenue?

In those six months since January, there hasn't been one syllable from Kenwright except a few muttering so that he's "Not too good". There has been no mention of an AGM.

At the end of last season, he couldn't announce one quick enough because we were doing okay. I think Billy Boy will be the death of this club.

My view is that we could have had that Stadium but Kenwright decided not to take the proffered loan.

If you read what Jay said about ambition and spending money on quality players. Quality players will get you up the table/further in cup runs therefore an increase in money.

Our squad is starting to look thin on the ground at the moment with Gibson not fit for 5 mins, Osman and Pienaar not 90-min players now, Barry, Hibbert and Kone's best days are behind them + the injury list keeps growing.

It's to be hoped we keep hold of all our players for the time being, as we want reinforcements not sales.

Such behaviour needs to be cut out early, otherwise things will only escalate.

First it's your hat. Then it's your letterbox. Next thing you know, the phrase 'chucking another log on the fire' takes on a whole new meaning:

Link

Under Kenwright's tenure, we have admittedly stabilised somewhat but the man was never prepared to take the next step and now it's starting to bite despite the huge increase in TV revenues. We have a pitiful ground, non-existent corporate facilities, woeful commercial acumen, an ageing squad that is STILL amongst the smallest in the division and a man running the club that, despite all his "best" efforts hasn't been able to find ANY credible investment in nearly 20 years.

And all this despite being one of the most decorated clubs in the history of the English top flight. Apparently he is the best salesman for the club. Well if that's the best we've got then God help us. He is actually our captor, not our saviour, as he sees himself.

Even a 'hint' of it can lead to damage that can never be repaired.

Link

I hate the Premier League.

I'm genuinely interested as to how we missed the opportunity of a lifetime of having a world class stadium being built for us for the outlay from the club of 30 MIllion Pounds.

I can only base my perception of our Chairman's role in the episode from reading the Liverpool Echo.

Although I admit to a dimming of the ould memory banks, I seem to remember the phrase issued from our Chairman's mouth "the 㿊 Million is ring fenced." I remember him attending a notaries gathering to look at a model of the beautiful Stadium to be, for Everton Football Club on a world class waterfront, and pronouncing how it was Everton's Home for the Future.

It then seemed to go quiet for a while. I guess while there were various calls from the major partners to the effect of "well, where's the money Bill?"

That's when the "other costs" seemed to appear but were never explained, at least nowt that I understood

So if you can point me Martin, to anywhere where I have missed or misinterpreted the Phrase that I saw in the Echo from Bill's "mate" Paul Gregg.

Something on the lines of "I'm not just going to write an open cheque but I'll be prepared to lend Everton FC the money (which we were supposed to have had already by the way) on a reverse mortgage basis (never understood that, not being a high finance type of feller.)

And I think he followed up with something on the lines that Bill should vacate the Chairman's role "as he was fuckin useless" My phraseology there but I guess the sentiment was something similar.

Final nail in the coffin of the good ship "Kings Dock" was our beloved Chairman saying that the Board declined the offer as "it wasn't in the interests of Everton Football Club."

That's my understanding of the sorry events that led us (no; condemned us) to the wilderness we have experienced since that sad affair.

So Martin, I've gone on a bit because in my own unfinancial world, I saw us having a chance of a beautiful new home, being denied us because of the events I've just described.

If you can enlighten my sorry interpretation of those events, I would perhaps have the scales of misunderstanding wiped from my eyes and see our dear Chairman in a whole new light. I would even (not that he'd be arsed) write a public apology on this site for holding our Chairman responsible for fucking up such a wonderful, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

BK's pride and need to be in the spotlight totally changed the direction of the club and, in that sense, Kenwright is totally self-serving.

Anyway, I hope we get the midfield maestro that Roberto is trying to get and I'd love to see him bring the lad in before the season started. If (the gods forbid) we sell John Stones, now, then we might get the maestro... and a couple of other players of reasonable quality as well.

So, hoping we keep Stonesy, I want to see reinforcements now but don't see them coming until virtually the last minute of the last day of the window...

If at all!!